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Dramatically Cheaper IUDs Are Coming To Boston Clinics
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When was the last time you heard about something in American health care getting cheaper — by a lot? Not very often. But that's the story with a new intrauterine device — or IUD — that's just now rolling out to clinics in Massachusetts and around the country.
Guest
Carey Goldberg, co-host of WBUR’s CommonHealth blog, which tweets @commonhealth.
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- "The Liletta, which is just starting to roll out at clinics and hospitals here in Boston and around the country, is not only a device for the lucky — quite the opposite. Its whole reason for being is to serve poor and uninsured women, to make IUDs — which can cost $1,000 or more — affordable to all, and available on demand at publicly funded health centers."
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- "IUDs can retail for more than $800 each, so a public health clinic such as Mesa County’s that attends to women with little or no medical insurance treats the devices almost like a controlled substance. The clinic spends $774,000 a year to serve a rural county of some 150,000. It can stock the pricey devices thanks in part to a statewide initiative to reduce unplanned pregnancies. The $24 million for the six-year effort came from an anonymous donor."
This segment aired on October 5, 2015.